


A promise kept

by Queenofthebees



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 13:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16368305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenofthebees/pseuds/Queenofthebees
Summary: Ned always kept his promises.





	A promise kept

**Author's Note:**

> Originally for father prompt of Jonsaweek but I have a new idea now. And in the wake of all the deleted fics, I decided to post this little drabble today instead.

_When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong._

Ned knew he had missed a great deal of opportunities in life, that he had squandered many chances and put too much trust in other people’s honour, thinking them to follow the same morals as himself.

Not telling his family the truth of Jon’s parentage had haunted him all his life. Not that he would ever have left Jon anywhere else. He was family, the only part of Lyanna left in the world. For all it cost him, Ned had meant his promise to protect him.

Ned always kept his promises.

Lady brushed against him, her golden eyes staring up at him. And Ned smiled down, wishing Sansa could somehow feel her wolf here, feel him here, watching her take back Winterfell for the Starks.

He had promised himself that Cersei would never have Lady’s skin, her bones returned to Winterfell where Sansa was now safe once more. Seeing her thrive as ruler, the Queen she was always meant to be made him so proud.

Since his own death, he had watched helplessly from the other world as tragedy after tragedy befell his family. A second of shameful relief when Cat and Robb joined him, though it wasn’t just because he missed them and longed to be with them both again, as he did his other children. But because with them here, the suffering was over. Nobody else would hurt them now.

His remaining children were alive, though separated, which saddened him greatly. But he had watched Jon with Sansa since they reunited. The soft smiles, the longing glances exchanged between them. He may have chuckled a little when Jon held Littlefinger up against the wall.

“That’s my boy,” he had muttered.

But despite Jon’s capability for violence, he remained a gentle person overall. Merciful and kind, his relationship with Sansa growing stronger by the day. And when Jon found out about his true parentage, Ned had watched Sansa comfort him, feeling horrid as Sansa murmured over and over how it didn’t matter, that she still loved him, as Jon continued to sob that he wasn’t Ned’s son.

_You are a son to me._

He wondered vaguely whether, if Lyanna had lived, he would have made the match for Jon and Sansa, regardless of the outcome of the war. Because a man like Jon was exactly what Ned had promised Sansa all those years, even if he hadn’t thought of Jon as the lord in question.

But now, watching Sansa and Jon beneath the heart tree, exchanging vows and matching Stark cloaks, Ned couldn’t help but feel like that keeping that promise to Lyanna, had ensured his promise to Sansa came true as well.

It would be hard, even with their new-found love for each other. They bickered far more than he and Cat ever had. But they loved each other, he knew that. And in a way, their bickering ended up bringing out the best in both of them.

“You’ll know happiness now sweet one,” Ned said with a smile as Jon kissed her forehead. He looked to where Cat was speaking with her father, her smile as radiant as the sun before turning back to the grinning pair in front of him. “I promise.”


End file.
